The Second Battle of Adobe Walls

The Second Battle of Adobe Walls, fought on June 27, 1874, marked a pivotal moment in the Red River War and the broader conflict between Plains Indian tribes and white settlers on the southern frontier. This brief but intense engagement helped trigger a major military campaign that would ultimately end the independence of the Southern Plains tribes.

Adobe Walls was not a military fort but a small settlement of buffalo hunters in the Texas Panhandle, approximately 15 miles northeast of present-day Borger. The site had been abandoned after the First Battle of Adobe Walls in 1864, but in spring 1874, merchants established a new trading post to serve the burgeoning buffalo hunting industry. By June, about 28 men and one woman inhabited the settlement, which consisted of three primary structures: a saloon, a store, and a blacksmith shop, all built of picket logs with sod roofs.

The buffalo hunters' presence represented an existential threat to the Plains tribes. Commercial hunting was rapidly decimating the buffalo herds that formed the foundation of their economy and culture. Incensed by this destruction and emboldened by spiritual leadership, several prominent war chiefs—including Quanah Parker of the Comanche, Lone Wolf of the Kiowa, and Gray Beard of the Cheyenne—united to organize a force of approximately 700 warriors to drive out the hunters.

The attack might have succeeded through sheer numerical superiority had it not been for an extraordinary stroke of luck. According to multiple accounts, several hunters were awakened before dawn by the sound of cracking ridgepoles in the sod roof. This early warning—whether caused by the building settling, as some suggest, or by divine intervention, as others believed—allowed them precious minutes to prepare their defenses before the Indian force arrived.

As dawn broke, the warriors charged the settlement. The initial assault was ferocious, with warriors riding directly up to the buildings. However, the adobe structures proved remarkably defensible, and the hunters were exceptionally well-armed with powerful, long-range buffalo rifles and abundant ammunition. These weapons, designed to kill buffalo at distances over half a mile, proved devastating against mounted warriors.

The battle's most famous moment came when hunter Billy Dixon made what became known as "The Shot of the Century." After the main assault had been repulsed and warriors had withdrawn to a nearby hill, Dixon aimed his Sharps .50 rifle at a distant figure and fired, knocking a warrior from his horse at the astounding distance of approximately 1,500 yards (0.85 miles).

After several hours of fighting, the warriors withdrew, having lost between 10-15 men while inflicting minimal casualties on the defenders. The battle's significance, however, extended far beyond its immediate outcome. The engagement prompted the U.S. military to launch the Red River War, an extensive campaign involving thousands of troops that would force the Southern Plains tribes onto reservations by 1875.

For Quanah Parker, the defeat marked a turning point. Within a year, he would surrender at Fort Sill and begin his transformation from war chief to influential intermediary between his people and the U.S. government. For the buffalo hunters, their victory proved pyrrhic; though they survived the battle, their industry would soon eliminate its own foundation as the great southern buffalo herd approached extinction.

Today, the Second Battle of Adobe Walls is remembered as the last major engagement of the Red River Indian Wars—a brief, violent collision between two irreconcilable ways of life at a moment when the balance of power on the Southern Plains had already begun its decisive shift.

To learn more about the battle, check out the HOKC video below: